Ernie Ball Music Man Unveils Artist Series John Myung Bongo 6 HH

Ernie Ball Music Man John Myung Bongo 6 Bass

Ernie Ball Music Man has unveiled a new model in their Artist Series with the John Myung Bongo 6 HH. The Dream Theater bassist collaborated with the company on his new signature axe to make it his own.

“The John Myung artist series Bongo is a sleek, ultra-modern 6 string bass crafted and perfected to John’s exacting specifications,” Ernie Ball writes. “With over a decade long refinement process, John and the Ernie Ball Music Man engineering team have addressed a multitude of design features to further enhance comfortability, playability, and overall performance.”

The bass starts as a Bongo but has some key differences including a simplified control layout with preprogrammed equalization. The dual humbuckers, which have neodymium magnets, are controlled with just a volume knob and a five-way pickup blend knob to change the selected coils. Its compact basswood body is fitted with a maple neck. EBMM uses a five-string nut width for a tighter string spacing. Another bold feature is its fingerboard, which the company describes as “a golden ratio fretboard utilizing a combination of rosewood and roasted maple for an elegant aesthetic.”

Watch Myung put it to use in this quick demo video:

The Ernie Ball Music Man Artist Series John Myung Bongo Six-String Bass is available to order now for $2,999 and ships within three months.

Ernie Ball Music Man Artist Series John Myung Bongo Six-String Bass Specs:

Scale:34″
Construction:5-bolt, Sculpted Neck Joint
Body:Basswood
Neck:Roasted Maple
Fingerboard:Rosewood/Roasted Maple
Frets:24 High Profile, Wide
Fret Markers:White Half Moon Inlay
Pickguard:Black
Pickups:Dual Humbucking with Neodymium magnets
Controls:Volume, 5-way pickup blend knob
Tuners:Custom Music Man, lightweight with tapered string posts and ergonomic design
Bridge:Music Man® chrome plated, steel bridge plate with stainless steel saddles
Finish:High Gloss Polyester Black

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Leave a Reply to JOE Cancel reply

  1. Examplo

    Christ that is ugly.

  2. JOE

    I love Bongos and I love JM… But I have no idea how they conspired to produce such an awful and bland looking instrument!

    Listening to the Mesa Boogie podcast with JM, there were clearly some other interesting ideas which haven’t made it into this bass… e.g. an actual golden rectangle fretboard. In the end, this seems like a Bongo with features removed… but not much added (except the string spacing, which is appealing to me and possibly to other finger-style shredder-types.).

    If nothing else, one of the main things Ernie Ball have seemingly learnt about the Bongo is that it typically suits (sells better) vibrant paint jobs and offset hardware… Yet here we just get a choice of generic gloss black. How very Ford.